This is disgusting. 

***********************

Convicted soldier: 'You probably think I'm a monster'

May 11, 2009

PADUCAH, Kentucky (CNN) -- "You probably think I'm a monster."

Former U.S. soldier Steven Green has been convicted of raping and killing a 14-year-old Iraqi girl.

That's what FBI agents said former U.S. soldier Steven Green told them nearly three years ago about accusations that he had raped a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and killed her and her family.

Green was found guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court in Paducah of the crimes and could face the death penalty.

Green spoke as the agents and he drove from his grandmother's home in Nebo, North Carolina, where he'd been arrested, to a detention center 45 minutes away in Asheville, North Carolina, authorities said.

According to court documents:

Green had taken his grandmother to dinner, and the two had plans for a movie. Agents asked the former Army private whether they could tell her the reason for his arrest. Green initially said yes, but changed his mind, not wanting to upset her. Agents let him smoke a few cigarettes before putting him in the car for the drive.

Without prompting, Green spoke.  "Knew you guys were coming," he said.

It was June 30, 2006, a month and a half after his discharge from the military. Green was a former member of the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, based in Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

The agents asked no questions. They listened as Green talked during the drive.

"All of my buddies were getting killed over there. My lieutenant got his face blown off. ... George Bush and Dick Cheney ought to be the ones that are arrested."

Green, a high school dropout, was a product of Bush's hometown of Midland, Texas. He had enlisted in 2005, leaving the hot, dry, oil-rich land of the Permian Basin for another hot, dry, oil-rich land.

"Joining the Army was the worst decision I ever made," he said.

Now, Green stands convicted for crimes he committed as a soldier.

Prosecutors said he and others in his unit plotted an attack on an Iraqi family. Green herded the parents and younger sister of 14-year-old Abeer al-Janabi into another room of a house while two accomplices raped her. He then gunned down her parents and her 6-year-old sister, before joining in the rape and killing the teenager.

The crimes happened in the Mahmoudiya area of Iraq, south of Baghdad, in 2006. Last week, a federal jury in McCracken County, Kentucky, deliberated for more than 10 hours before convicting Green for murder, rape, conspiracy and obstruction of justice, according to the court's Web site. Guilty on all 17 counts.

Four other former soldiers are in prison for their roles in the crime and the cover-up that followed.

Pvt. 1st Class James Barker, Sgt. Paul Cortez, Pvt. 1st Class Jesse Spielman and Pvt. 1st Class Bryan Howard received sentences ranging from 27 months to 110 years, with the possibility of parole in 10 years in the most severe cases.

They were convicted and sentenced in a military court. On Monday, as the penalty phase of his trial begins, Green might become the first former U.S. soldier to face the death penalty for war crimes before a civilian court.

The reason for the distinction: Green was discharged from the military before his crimes came to light.

When the killings became public in 2006, the Iraqi public was enraged and some Iraqi officials demanded that American soldiers accused of crimes against civilians face prosecution in Iraqi courts.

*************
Granted, I agree that the soldiers who died fighting a war that we should never have started - that's tragic.  And I agree that Bush and Cheney should probably be brought up on war crimes charges.    But that doesn't give you license to rape and kill innocent people.  

Does anyone else see this guy as a classic example of not taking responsibility for his own actions?  With all these cases coming to light, I wonder if this is an unfortunate consequence of military discipline and doing what you're told without question - you forget that *you* are the one ultimately responsible for your own actions, no matter what they are. 

I'm just trying to imagine what the girl and her family must have felt, being killed in such a brutal fashion.  So yes, Steven Green, I do think you are a monster.

today was a good day. I got a lot of things done - boxes mailed to neechan and to a fellow Raveler, money on my phone, a time for Gizmo to go to the vet to get fixed, took my jeans to be altered.  I even dropped by Knitting Tree for an hour or so to tell them about the Myeongdong meeting and do a repeat or so on my cowl.  It was fun to be there again - I told them I would come back Friday and bring some of my FOs to show them, since last time I was working on the legwarmers. 

After all my errands, I ended up in McDonalds to meet my new friend.  We had a lot of fun talking for an hour or so before he had to go do homework for a marketing class.  He lives in Kukdong, which is like, right next door to me.  When I walked back by KKW the lights were still on, so I ended up going back to McDonald's with Kim-teacher, Kyung Mi (Violet) and Soh Jin (pansy). We stayed there talking about all kinds of things till 10.  And now I'm home, browsing ravelry and attempting to figure out what pattern I want to make with this cotton/rayon blend from Knitting Tree. 

Also today - yummy kimbap.  MMM...

I'd like to finish this cowl this week so I can be wearing it.  Also, wanna start my dragon shawl but am still working out if it should be double-stranded or single. Need two more balls to make it double. 

And then Jon sent me this article.
Excommunicated doctor hailed for abortion

Archbishop Don Jose Cardoso Sobrinho of Recife excommunicated the doctor, the child's mother and the medical team involved in the procedure.

However, the stepfather was not excommunicated, with Sobrinho telling Globo TV that, "A graver act than (rape) is abortion, to eliminate an innocent life."

Um, no, I don't think so. Because rape isn't the elimination of anything innocent at all.  This is just wrong on so many levels.  First one - 9 y/o raped by stepfather, pregnant with twins.  Abuse had been going on since she was 6.  (Can 9y/os GET PREGNANT?)  Hello, where was the mother in all this?

2ndly - the girl's mother and the entire medical team who performed the abortion have been excommunicated.  Guy who did the raping? Totally cool in the eyes of God.  And the Archbishop has the nerve to say that  "God's law is above human laws."  Of course it is, but I think you are getting confused here, because the law that says it's okay to rape your stepdaughter is probably not God's law.  My two cents, anyway. 

Brazil bans abortion? What?

Granted, I love trashy romance novels just as much as the next girl.  Maybe more.  Still, despite this fondness for the pinnacle of literary achievement, even I found Twilight to be bad.  So much so that I talked through reading the book, which my neechan found endlessly amusing.

Lately, I've been listening to it on audiobook whilst knitting, and reliving the horror.  (as someone I read today put it, it's a special kind of masochism to rearead them.  Listening is worse, trust me.)  And one thing led to another, and I've come across some amazing articles that I felt the need to share. 

First up, because it is omfg amazing and the best thing out there:

LDS Sparkledammerung is here!!!

~~Dammit! I hate it when Vox decides I've just spent half an hour typing an empty post. GRR. Try again, as Aaliyah used to say.~~

As I was saying, Most of my friends already know this.  But for those of you who don't, here's your warning.  I listen to lyrics and find all kinds of associations and them share them with my friends. Now that I have the helpful blogosphere, you won't be subject to emails of these things!!

I mentioned earlier, I'm not really into Jack's Mannequin's new album, The Glass Passenger.  I'm still trying it, but I only have found a few songs on it that I really like - "Annie use your telescope" and "The Resolution" among them.  And I don't care that the video is bad, neechan.  :P It's still a good song.

~~random thought: I'm not sure what I'm going to do when I have to actually eat dinner at a table again instead of on my bed in front of my computer.  It will feel strange, I'm sure.~~

I have, however, been listening to Something Corporate recently, since I finally got around to dling their discography, and I'm quite enjoying it.  For the uneducated out there, it's Andrew McMahon's first band - Jack's Mannequin is a side project. (His name's not actually Jack, neechan. Jeez! Read the wiki!!)  I think it's cause I've been in the mood for upbeat stuff lately.  ~~Excuse me while I throw my furball across the room for attempting to steal my dinner.~~  Tonight two of the songs really stuck out while I was cooking dinner, and I thought I would share.  The first one is first, because, well, because it came first.  And it's related to my last post.  Here it is, and lyrics below:

10 - Something Corporate - Good News

"Good News"
by Something Corporate

She's trapped inside her room
With reruns on the screen
Old books and movies
But she can't stop thinking
I'm torn between myself
My radio my friends
I want to write this one off over and over and over again
And then she looked at me to scream
"My castles are falling"
But I can't look into the street
Without everything changing

I wanna read good news good news
I wanna be innocent again
I wanna read good news good news
But nothing good is happening

She waits all day
She stands a stranger in her skin
She moves the science with her hands
She lines her walls
With every paper she can see
These words consume her
But they never set her free
And then she looked at me to scream
"My castles are falling"
But I can't look into the street
Without everything changing

I wanna read good news good news
I wanna be innocent again
I wanna read good news good news
But nothing good is happening

nothing good is happening
nothing good is happening

I wanna read good news good news
I wanna be a little kid again
I wanna read good news good news
But nothing good is happening
I wanna read good news good news
I wanna go to sleep at night again
I wanna read good news good news
But nothing good is happening
But nothing good is happening
But nothing good is happening

~~~~~
Relevant?  The content vaguely reminds me a lil bit of that Rob Thomas song I posted a while back, and attendant thoughts on music as social commentary, though this one is more personal and less universal.  Makes me think high school.  But still apt.   More bad news: I did my nails! And then I washed the dishes.  ;_; So there are three of them left looking nicely.  -sigh- Maybe I should just give up doing my nails.    And Google keeps bringing up pages in Korean.  I hate it when I does that.  And my stuff keeps failing in the middle of uploads...

Next one!! Entirely for fun, but it's a fun song.  Makes me think of Nick, a lil bit.  And me.  And driving in the middle of the night around Atlanta, just because we could.

11 - Something Corporate - 21 and invincible

"21 and Invincible"
by Something Corporate

Some days go by, I wish I were famous
Or maybe religious, so I could go to heaven
Just like you
I can have a big house, complain about taxes
Payoff my ex's, ain't that living
No one makes fun of me, cause I can't stand up for myself

We're 21 and invincible
Can't wait to screw this up
We're 21 and invincible
I'm in power for the hour
I guess today's gonna blow us away

I've got a girlfriend
She tells me she needs me
And she loves me
We'll probably get married
Oh no, and everyone will bite their tongues so hard they bleed

When mom hears this song
She'll tell me I'm crazy
She'll say to me:
"Son you're much too young, go have some fun don't waste your youth like I did"

We're 21 and invincible
Can't wait to screw this up
We're 21 and invincible
I'm in power for the hour
I guess today's gonna blow us away

And it's been Autumn since the day that I met you
If I hit bottom must I crawl out alone?
And I dont wish to know the secrets of summer at all

We're 21 and invincible
Can't wait to fuck this up
We're 21 and invincible
I'm in power for the hour
I guess today's gonna blow us away

~~~~
Okay, I'm off to go upload more of my drive to the tubes, maybe do some knitting, since that was what I was supposed to do this weekend, before I decided to reformat my computer. But I can't finish it tonight, even if I had time - no more DVD-RWs.  Have to go shopping for house things tomorrow anyway.

I've been up since 530 am.  I feel like i should be tired. hmm.

Well, i was watching the Olympics tonight, and Pres. Bush was being interviewed by one of the Olympic reporters about his interactions with Team USA and how America's relationship with China is affected by the Games.  And Bush says that, well, he's been working on relating to China even before the Games.

Then it takes a turn down memory lane, i.e., Bush-Says-Something-Stupid Road.

Reporter: So, do you think that, since China's a growing power, and America is having some problems, that maybe we could see the two countries working together a bit more? (Note: This isn't verbatim.)

Bush: I don't think America has problems.  (Note: This is verbatim.)

I happened to be on the phone with my dad and mentioned the laughability of this comment to him, to which he responded, "Well, perhaps it's one of those things where if you ignore it, it doesn't exist."

"Like the recession?" I said.

As an afterthought – It occasionally occurs to me that I should be a music anthropologist.  Today, for instance, I happened to notice that some new Kanye West song uses (and I mean blatantly – you can hear the lyrics) Daft Punk’s “Harder Better Faster Stronger” as the back beat.  I guess an older example of this is the use of an Ozzy Osborne guitar riff in “Let’s Go” (don’t remember the artist.  Some collaboration of like 8 rappers).  I mean, I know some people feel like we have reached the end of creativity, in the sense that everything has been thought up, but come on – why is it necessary to blatantly use other artists’ work to make up your own? Of course, as long as everyone gets their royalties, I’m sure not many people are complaining, but still.

And seriously, what’s with collaboration lately?  I’m all for good artists jamming together, but it seems like lately (and I’ve noticed this trend more with hip hop) you can’t make an album without having at least 3 other artists featured on it, sometimes in the same song.  Generally when I listen to an album (which is rarely, cause I don’t buy them), I do it because I want to hear that band.  Not 6 other people whose varying styles screw with the flow of the primary style.  Variety is good – but sometimes, I like my vanilla ice cream without all the toppings, thank you. 

Other thoughts on music: while I was home I heard the song “Love Train” by The O'Jays. 

The O'Jays - Love Train

It’s interesting to listen to the lyrics, because they are definitely indicative of the time it was written (in ) – the first verse talks about letting people in Russia and China know about the love train.  Then it goes the Africa, Egypt and Israel… and that’s it.  Those are the only countries mentioned.  Pre-Cold War politics, anyone? Back to Africa movement?  What was going on in the Middle East back then?  That was never my strong field in History.  It’s just amazing to me how these things work out…

Which of course brings me to the thought of today.  Music reflects the social times – what will people listen to of this period in 20 years?  Off the top of my head, I can think of two songs – “Last Straw” by Jack’s Mannequin which pretty blatantly states,

Jack's mannequin - Last Straw

And I stayed home, took a Vicodin

Sometimes it’s all that I can do,

When I think about the President…

How did he become the President…?

The other, which I have only actually heard a few times, is by Matchbox 20 (there’s a flashback for you), and it’s called “How Far We’ve Come”, but the lyrics struck me

Waking up at the start of the end of the world

But it’s feeling just like every other morning before

Matchbox twenty - How Far We've Come

Now I wonder what my life is going to mean if it’s come

And that’s the just the first verse, the chorus is more explicit.

I believe the world is burning to the ground

Oh well, I guess we’re gonna find out

Let’s see how far we’ve come

I believe it all is coming to an end

Oh well, I guess we’re gonna pretend

Let’s see how far we’ve come.

What does this say about our society, I wonder? That things like this are proclaimed as “Top Forty”, the most popular stuff out there.  If it means most of the population is only listening to 40 songs at a time, I think that’s bad. But there are other interpretations too.

One more thing, while I’m on a music rant.  I was totally surprised the other day to hear Jesse McCartney’s new song.  I was also surprised to hear that New Kids on the Block is back. But they are both completely different… McCartney’s song, is on the other end of the spectrum from his first single, “Beautiful Soul.”  And NKotB has always been poppy/boy band.  Except now they’re like 10 years older, so they have to grow up and have almost-strippers in their videos.  I understand letting your audience influence you, and also that for many artists, that’s entirely how they function.  But between the two of them, McCartney and NKotB, they could probably make one second-rate hip hop group, strippers and all.  Ugh. I hate it when artists do that.  Of course it always happens – remember innocent Britney Spears and (my) middle-school era Backstreet Boys and N’Sync? And then two years later they sound completely different…

I really like genre mixing, but it seems like these days a lot of radio-played stuff kinda falls somewhere in 4 genres – hip hop-influenced, pop-rock, country, and occasionally (like once in a blue moon) a techno/dance song (never the good ones; I seriously think that Kanye West song was the first time I have ever heard Daft Punk on normal radio).  This is why I rarely listen to the radio. 

Next time on Cinnamingirl’s music rants - stop hating on country music. And bad pop. 

I swear, I think I’m done for the night.  

Now, usually I don't like politics.  It's full of lots of distractions and things that don't matter.  So I saw this speech a while back in a friend's blog, and just now got around to reading it. 

Trust me, it's worth it.

Barack Obama's Speech on Race

I really hope this man becomes president.

it's so weird to be back in america. 

people making out in public.  as much as i don't mind being affectionate in public (even in japan), i can't say i missed that aspect of home.  it's kinda gross. and distracting.  and even tho i have someone that i can be perfectly oblivious with and have no problem making out with in public if i so choose, there's another part of me that looks at some people, and thinks, "what is wrong with your relationship that you feel the need to publicly display it in that manner?"

totally hypocritical of me, i kno. 

and i remember my friend shelly in high school - "stop flaunting your heterosexuality."

OMYFUCKINGGOD.

I hate my computer.  It spazzes out repeatedly. This will be literally the 4^th time I have tried to type this post.  My battery has been being ridiculous, the adapter’s only working half the time, it overheats itself, and I can’t use the wireless in my apartment.  Any other wireless is fine, but if my wireless card is even on in my apartment, the computer will continuously reboot itself until I turn it off.  It will get into launching XP, recognize the wireless card, flash a blue screen of death at me, and then restart.  Really annoying, since I can’t read most of it to try to figure out what’s wrong.  But it doesn’t happen anywhere else. Ack. I need a job.

Okay, so back to my post.  I did nothing today, for the most part. I watched Van Wilder and Legally Blonde on comedy central.  Both movies I kinda like, despite them not being high film.  I feel marginally useless for spending 6 hours in front of the tv, but I only binge like that occasionally.  Now I’m in callaway, writing cover letters and applying for jobs. At least, I will be when I finish this post.  But I had some stuff I wanted to post.

First up – my time in front of the idiot box was not entirely wasted.  I finished this:

Choker

Ain’t it purty? I’ve been working on it for a few days.  I made a choker last year when I needed to do something with my hands (right about this same time, actually), but I lost it in Kyoto.  Oh well, can always make more.  Anyway, I’ve been wanting another choker, cause I can’t wear my collar everywhere (people give me strange looks, dunno why

-smile-).  And, I had a new shirt! So I made something to match.  Here’s the shirt.  I love threadless. Go buy stuff there.

Also, I was thinking the other day. Or rather, I think this all the time when I hear this song.  Ever wonder about the sexual politics behind the song “Angel is the Centerfold”?  Just listen to it.  It’s totally 80s, but it’s really interesting. 

J. Geils Band - Angel is the Centerfold

Lastly – I went to Buckhead the other day, and I always find this sign interesting.  But the billboard behind it just makes it awesomer.   You might have to view it larger to see the background. 

Buckhead Luxury